Monday, June 5, 2017

Do what you love. Find Your Purpose In Life

Do what you love. Find Your Purpose In Life

Did you know that your success and happiness are largely in your control?

You
can come to this realization only if you find your purpose in life and
do what you are truly passion about. Unfortunately, many of us don’t
realize that we have unique talents. We choose to do what everyone is
doing. What’s the result?

You will feel lost, experience
disillusionment, and get frustrated. You will start wondering why the
gods have ganged up against you, that nothing seems to work for you.

Knowing your purpose in life is the foundation of a life well lived. In his book, ‘The Power of Purpose,’ Richard Leider wrote:

“If
our purpose is genuine enough, it involves us deeply and orders all
areas of our life. We begin to eliminate what is irrelevant and what is
so much clutter. A simplification takes place, and we achieve a clarity
as to what we’re about. We don’t need to pretend to be what we’re not.
What is of real importance stands out more clearly.” – Richard J Leider

You
should start living a life inspired by purpose. By the time you finish
reading this piece, you will have known how to find your purpose in life
and do what you love.

The Importance of Doing What You Love
In the words of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple,

“You’ve
got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is
for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life,
and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” –
Steve Jobs

When you don’t know what you’re
passionate about and aren’t doing what you love, your life lacks a
deeper meaning. There are several other reasons why you need to do what
you love:

1. You will Know No Stress

People love indulging
in their hobbies largely because it helps them ease stress and
pressure. A hobby is an activity an individual has a real passion for
doing. Hence, there’s no performance pressure, not targets, no stress
whatsoever. This is effective in relaxing the mind.

At times, the
things that you enjoy doing can also be done at a professional level.
You should be confident that you truly love what you are doing. If
counting money at the bank excites you, then you are the perfect
candidate for the job. Otherwise, you had better evaluate your options
and make a better decision.

2. Your Productivity Will Increase

When
you are doing what you love, you will be more engaged and devoted to
your work. In fact, you’ll be zealous in undertaking those activities.
This will translate to increased productivity.

When you truly love your work, you will never feel tired. Furthermore,
it will always be enjoyable doing those things. Consequently, you will
end up being more productive.

3. You Will Remain Motivated

If
you do what you love, your work will never feel like a chore to you.
You will always be motivated to work as hard as you can to achieve the
best. Namely, if you focus on doing the things that are driven by your
passion, you will never feel bored. It will always be fun doing them,
and you will always find it easy even to weather the hardships.

4. Your Work Will Have a Touch of Passion

Passion
is what differentiates good work and great work. Any sane person can
tell if you did something with passion or not. Anything done with
passion will not only be of premium quality but will also have emotional
value attached to it. The love will flow out of your work and touch the
hearts of its end consumers.

5. You Will Push Yourself To be More Successful

If
you are doing what you are truly passionate about, you will always
strive to be better at it each passing day. This, eventually, will make
you achieve more success in your life’s goals.
Also, you will never need any external driving force, which will push you to work. You will always be ready to face the tasks.

6. You will Enjoy a Gratifying Life

This
is perhaps the most important reason of all. When you love what you do,
gratification comes in automatically. This is because you are following
what your heart tells you, and you are living your purpose.

When
doing what you love, factors like money and incentives become less
important. Your mind is simply focused on innovating and developing,
thanks to your undying passion and love of life that is fulfilling.

So, follow your heart, do what you love, and you will enjoy a fulfilling life.

7. You Will Always Be Ready To Face New Challenges

While
challenges are there to make us stronger, many of us do all we can to
avoid then. However, if you do what you love and truly work with all
your heart, you will never avoid any challenges.
In fact, the new
challenges will always fascinate you. The reason being, obstacles are
usually inspiring, and they will make you even stronger over time.

8. You will always be Learning

If
you do what you love, there are high chances you will be interested in
learning everything about it. In light of that, you will always find
yourself learning and refining your skills every single day. This is
certainly a good thing for your overall success.

9. Procrastination Won’t Be Your Cup of Tea

Do you know why people procrastinate? It is mostly because they don’t feel like doing the tasks at hand. They just don’t have sufficient motivation to do the work.

When
you do the things you love, procrastination will never be one of your
choices. Furthermore, you will have the drive to work extra hard to
reach your targets.

10. You Will Be an Efficient Leader

Do you know the role of a leader? He leads the team and takes bold decisions.

When
you do what you love, and are truly passionate about your work, you
will inspire people. They will see you working, love how you work, and
will certainly follow you.

Without passion and genuine belief in
what you do, it will be difficult to convince anybody to join your team.
Therefore, you need to find what you love, be engaged in it, and you
will become an efficient leader.

Having seen how you can draw
immense benefits from doing what you love, it’s time to find out what
you are really good at and do what you love. Do you have any idea on how
to find out what you are good at?

Don’t worry if you
don’t. In the next section, we are going to outline how to find out what
you’re good at; your passion, and your purpose in life.

How to Find Your Purpose in Life Doing What You Love

If you’ve never lived a fulfilling life,
you probably have been doing what you don’t genuinely love. However, it
is not too late to turn your life around. From the following tips, you
will learn how to find out what you want to do and live your purpose in
life.

Inventory What You Love

There’s no way you can
manage to live your purpose if you have no idea of what you want or what
you truly love. If you are confused about what you love, then you are
like many others struggling to find their purpose.

Get a pen and a
piece of paper, and then find a quiet place with no distractions. Think
about what you genuinely love, deep in your heart. Write it down, line
for line. It may be an abstract object or something tangible. Whatever
it is, just write it down. Otherwise, you will get lost.

If you have nothing to document, don’t stop thinking. Do you know why?

It is because there’s something in you that you certainly love. You have to find it and document it.

Try to Remember What You Loved Doing as a Child

This is perhaps the simplest way to find out what you are truly passion about and what you want to do.

According to various studies and experts, most of our childhood dreams and passion
point to our life’s purpose. However, many of us are oblivious of that.
Some of us, on the other hand, had no one to encourage us to pursue our
childhood dreams and passion.

Consequently, we usually don’t
discover where our passion truly lies until we are grownups. While you
cannot rewind time, you can make a list of the things you loved and
enjoyed doing as a child:
What did you do that attracted the most compliments?

What were you truly enthusiastic about?

What were you great at?

After you’ve answered these questions, evaluate which areas or things
that excite you today. That is what you truly love. In fact, getting
back in touch with your childhood passions is a great step in finding
your purpose in life.

Lead from Your Heart and not Your Head

When it comes to assessing our real passion and purpose, the heart is the most effective tool. Therefore, you need to lead from your heart. In this way, you will be naturally more ecstatic and enthused to explore.

Moreover,
when you are motivated and connected to you ecstatic self, inspiration
fills your heart. In the same breath, doing what you love gives you more
insights into what makes you happy.

Money Shouldn’t Be Your Main Driving Force

If
you want to find your purpose in life and do what you love, it is
advisable to consider financial concerns as secondary. Namely, if the
amount of money you earn from doing what you do is the primary
determining factor, then finding what you love won’t be easy. This is
largely because it will limit your choices.

Conversely, if you
focus on pursuing your interests, you will end up being an influential
person, and ultimately, in a position that will earn you the money you
desire. Therefore, get money out of the equation. Just find what you
love, pursue your interests, and money will follow.

Focus on Building Bridges

Note that we are referring to proverbial bridges
here. If you are an artist, for instance, building a bridge could mean
volunteering at the art museums. Likewise, if you love books, why not go
to the library and help others learn how to read?

We love seeing
people living a happy and fulfilling life. For that reason, we are
teaching you how to find your purpose in life. This article is our
bridge to connect to you.

By building a bridge, you will be able
to connect with the outside world. It doesn’t matter whether someone is
there or not. At times, simply venturing into the outside world can help
you meet somebody that will give you the push you so much need to live
your purpose. Most often, we become holed up in insular universes, with
no one to connect with. What does this mean?

You are like an
island, feeling lonely and outcast. When the wind comes, it blows away
the purpose into oblivion. You don’t want to be an island. Therefore,
build bridges and connect with the world around you.

Focus on Your Strengths

You
probably have realized that, from your early childhood, the society
tends to focus on your weaknesses. No one recognizes your strengths.

If
not stopped early in our childhood, this subconscious habit typically
roots itself into our adult life never to fade. Some of us discover this
and strive to turn our life around. Unfortunately, other people end up
living unhappy and unfulfilling lives.

Therefore, it is imperative
that you focus on your strengths and work to make them even stronger.
You can achieve this by finding out and following what you love to do.
Do not struggle to catch up in other areas, which don’t interest you. In
fact, our real passion and purpose lay in our strengths.

Be selfish

Do you always sacrifice your time and aspirations for other people?

If
you answered in the affirmative, then that’s why you can’t find exactly
what you want to do with your life. You should always put yourself
first.

Try to answer this question: If you were not engaged with
your job, friends, family, etc., then what would you be doing with your
time?

You may think it is wrong to put yourself first, but it is very much okay. If you don’t, then who will?

Think About the People Who Inspire You

Some
people are already where you would want to be. These can be historical
figures, world leaders, business moguls, or individuals personally known
to you. Study them and get to know how they managed to be successful in
the area in which you have interests.

Consider documenting how
these people inspire you, as well specific traits they possess that you
would like to emulate. However, you don’t have to live up to every
aspect of a person. You should use the person to identify specific
traits that you would also want to have, which will contribute to the
pursuit of living your purpose.

Eliminate What you Don’t Love Doing

There
are, certainly, things and tasks that you abhor. Note them down and
eliminate them. Once you do that, your true passion will come out
clearly. In the same breath, you can identify the people you envy for
the work they do.

By making a list of the individuals you are
jealous of, and trying to do the work they do then you may discover your
true passion.

Identify the Things you are Poor at

Many of us don’t have excellent skills at any one thing, but we can perform reasonably good in a lot of things.

If
you can merge your average skills together, you may discover what you
are truly passionate about. For instance, you can be an average artist
with an excellent sense of humor.

In this case, you may not excel
in an art degree. Unfortunately, you cannot study humor as a subject.
However, you can make a great cartoonist.

Another good example is
an average business student, with excellent marketing skills, and some
programming knowledge. This person has a great potential of becoming the
boss of other individuals who were better than he was in any of the
three areas.

Often, people that are most passionate about what
they do and excel at it are usually not defined by a single expertise.
They normally possess a combination of skills, which are typically not
even exceptional skills. They have just managed to make the combinations
unique.

Take Steve Jobs, for example. He wasn’t the best
engineer, businessperson, or salesperson in the world. However, he had
some skills in each of the fields, which he fused together to make
something exceptional.

Document Your Progress

When it
comes to the process of finding what you love, it is imperative that you
document your progress at every step of the way. This is probably the
smartest thing you can do. Consider taking photos, writing notes, and
drawing sketches.

Be sure to document your feelings, your
observations, as well as where you have been. In this way, you will be
able to remember things more vividly, which will play a great role in
finding your purpose.

You will be elated when you think about that
great piece of art. You will remember that warthog running after you in
the park. You will come across moments that make you happy. Those
moments will stimulate the synapses in your brain and give you purpose.

Your
life’s purpose is unearthed when you find joy in the progress that you
are making. It is found when you document every single thing along the
way. Remember, you don’t have to write down everything. You can take
photos, videos, anything with which you can communicate, share, and
express your thoughts and feelings.

Always Be Positive

You
should realize that life does not always go according to our
expectations. You should not feel distraught when things go contrary to
your plans. Take control. Try the best you can to adapt to the changes.
Someday, you will achieve what you want. It is just a small break. At
times, a positive attitude goes a long away in the pursuit of life’s
purpose.

Final Thoughts

Nothing can be more frustrating
than when you work so hard, but nothing seems to go according to your
wishes. Sometimes you feel lost and dissatisfied. If you don’t feel
satisfied with or happy with your life, you may be doing things that
were just not cut for you. You need to re-evaluate your purpose in life
and start doing what you love.

While many people find it
challenging, finding your purpose in life could be easier than you
think. The problem is that many of us don’t realize that we possess unique talents and abilities.
We usually follow the masses and get engrossed in what everyone else is
doing. The result of this is largely frustration, disillusionment, and
an unfulfilling life.

With this article, you will learn how to
find your purpose and do what you love. Knowing your purpose and doing
what you love are among the most important aspects of living.